Buchan enlarged. Domestic medicine; or, The family physician, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases, by regimen and simple medicines: With an appendix containing a dispensatory. For the use of private practitioners. To which is added ... rules and regulations to be observed ... in the management of infants, etc / [William Buchan].

  • Buchan, William, 1729-1805.
Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Buchan enlarged. Domestic medicine; or, The family physician, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases, by regimen and simple medicines: With an appendix containing a dispensatory. For the use of private practitioners. To which is added ... rules and regulations to be observed ... in the management of infants, etc / [William Buchan]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    liappen, they must increase tlie fe'/er to sucli a degree as will en~ danger the life of the infant. Tlie danger of keeping infants too hot will further appear, if we consider that, after tliey have been for some time in the situa- tion mentioned above, they are often sent into the country to be nursed in a cold house. Is it any wonder,, if a child, from such a transition, catches a mortal cold, or contracts some other fatal dis- ease ? When an infant is kept too hot, its kings, not being sufh- ciently expanded, are apt to remain weak and flaccid for life; hence proceed coughs, consumptions, and other diseases of the breast. It would answer little purpose to specify the particular species of dress proper for an infant. These will always vary in differ- ent countries, according to custom and the humour of parents. ’Idle great rule to be observed is, That a child have no more chthes tJum are necessary to keep It 'marm, and that they he quite easy for its body. '' Stays are the very bane of infants. A volume would not suf- fice to point out all the bad effects of this ridiculous piece of dress lK>th on children and adults. The madness in favour of stays^ seems, however, to be somewhat abatedand it is to be hoped the world will in time become wise enough to know, that the human shape does not solely depend ujion whalebone and bend leather*. I shall only add with respect to the clothes of children, that they ought to be kept thoroughly clean. Children perspire more than adults: and if tlieir clothes be not frequently changed, they become very hurtful. Dirty clotlics not only gall and fret the ten- der skins of infants, but likewise occasions ill-smells; and what is worse, tend to produce vermin and cutaneous diseases. Cleanliness is not only agreeable to the eye, but tends greatly to preserve the health of children. It promotes the perspiration, and by that means, frees the body from superfluous humours, which, if retained, could not fail to occasion diseases. No mother or nurse can have any excuse for allowing a child to be dirty. Poverty may oblige her to give ft coarse clothes: but if she does not keep them clean, it must be her own fault. Of the Food ef Children. Nature not only points out the food proper for an infant, but * Stays made of bend leatk^t worn by all the women of lower station in many parts of England. I am Sony to understand, that there are still mothers mad enough to lace their daughters very tight in order to improve their shape. As reasoning would be totally- lost upon such people, I shall beg leave just to ask them^ Why there are ten deformeti women for one man ? and likewise to recommend to their perusal a short moral pre- cept, which forbids us to deform the human body.